Question

Find a psychology or health related research study reported in the news within the past 3 years. Locate a study which uses a comparison of two groups on an outcome variable. Identify the independent variable and dependent variable for your study. What was their research hypothesis? Which statistical test did they use? What did the researchers conclude? Why is that conclusion important to us as future psychologists or nurses?

Answer 1

Find a psychology or health-related research study reported in the news within the past 3 years. Locate a study which uses a comparison of two groups on an outcome variable.

Research published in 2017:

Marshall and Kirkpatrick (2017, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Learning and cognition). This study compared two groups in order to identify mechanisms underlying loss chasing in rats.

Identify the independent variable and dependent variable for your study. What was their research hypothesis?

Independent Variable: Rewards is the independent variable in the study. In this case, food pellets.

Dependent Variable: The light flashes that were shown to the normal group (control group) and the extra feedback group (experimental group) in order to determine their rewards is the dependent variable.

Which statistical test did they use?

The researchers used a simple nonlinear regression. A series of nonlinear models were fit to individual rat's data to come up with possible psychological mechanisms that could account for choosing high uncertainty choices.

What did the researchers conclude?

The researchers concluded that losses disguised as wins acquire conditioned reinforcement properties that encourage continued risk-taking. It increases loss-chasing following previous high-risk decisions.

Why is that conclusion important to us as future psychologists or nurses?

It is important to us in order o analyze why and how people make poor choices that lea to losses in spite of knowing fully well that they are heading towards a loss. This helps us assist them better in order to come out of loss chasing and make better low uncertain life choices.